


Sworn nemeses...?

by vanishing_apples



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: (I hope), Fluff, Humour, M/M, they realise they're in love in the stupidest way possible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanishing_apples/pseuds/vanishing_apples
Summary: In which the formal introduction between two fellow primarch disciples is nothing short of chaotic.
Relationships: Grimnir/Shiva (Granblue Fantasy)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 100





	Sworn nemeses...?

Grimnir peeks over the rim of his mug, narrowed eyes firmly locked on to their target five clamouring tables away. There is no mistake. That’s definitely _him_ \- his sworn nemesis. 

“That’s an awfully big gulp you’re taking.” - Djeeta absentmindedly remarks through her half-chewed bite of muffin. - “Been what, two minutes, since you started sipping?”

“Shhhh!” - Grimnir hisses, insistent on concealing the lower half his face with the tilted mug. - “You’ll blow my cover, Singularity!”

The young captain sighs. Discreetly, she scoots over to his side of the table to follow his line of sight. 

_Ahhh._ \- A small noise of realisation escapes her lips. It swells into a string of giggles.

“Wh-what!?” - The wind primal whispers sharply, confused and somewhat offended by her nonchalance. 

“’What’ indeed. As in what’s _your_ problem?” - Indifferent to Grimnir’s concerns, Djeeta speaks at her usual volume. - “Get over there and say ‘hi’. You still haven’t introduced yourself to him since you got on this ship, have you?”

She can just imagine his lips arching in a comically deep frown behind that mug. 

“I can’t just say ‘hi’, Djeeta!” - Grimnir continues to whisper. - “Not to _him_ … !”

Not to the menace that is Shiva! Anyone would be able to recognise that distinctive skin tone, that ivory serpent, those imposing four arms from anywhere. Grimnir himself remembers… no… has those features forcefully etched into his memory with each fiery blast he took, back when he was still in the business of giving periodic trials. _He_ was always there, front and center in Djeeta’s entourage of fire wielders, brandishing his trident with all the regal majesty of a god, his destructive third eye heralding a world of pain. And Grimnir is far from the only victim! He has heard countless testimonies from others of his kind - wind primal beasts who have similarly suffered under Shiva’s reign of terror. Out of all fire users in Djeeta’s crew, Shiva is the one with notoriety to his name (among wind primal beasts, at least) not only due to his status as the fire primarch’s disciple, but also for his devastating prowess in weaponising fire. 

Three whole days spent in his crew and only now does Grimnir realise a crucial part of what his membership entails - being in special proximity to this perilous presence. He’s not scared… well… not _wholly_ scared! Even if his heart feels like it’s trying to burst out of his ribcage right now… But such was the same reaction he had upon their first encounter, induced by unadulterated awe. To be fair, who _wouldn’t _be awestruck confronted by Shiva?__

__“...elloooo! Earth to Grimnir!”_ _

__Djeeta’s voice brings him back to reality. During his little trance, the content of Grimnir’s mug has crept dangerously close to its rim. He hastily steadies the vessel, to Djeeta’s amusement._ _

__“C’mon. Everyone’s your friend here on the ship.” - She chuckles, slapping his back lightly in good humour._ _

__“He’s no ‘friend’ of mine, Singularity…!” - Grimnir’s voice tapers off mid-sentence. It’s too embarrassing to admit weakness, especially when he’s barely 72 hours away from practically begging her to let him on the ship with promises of his own formidable strength._ _

__An uneasy pause ensues. At the very back of Grimnir’s mind, the odd silence reads as some unsavoury omen. He tragically ends up too slow at recognising the cue to escape. Djeeta’s lips have stretched to her ears in a devious grin._ _

__“Ooooh, I see now. You don’t see him as a ‘friend’, huh.” - She coos._ _

__“H-huh…?”_ _

__His stomach churns. And yet, Grimnir still does not have the good sense to _run_._ _

__The twinkle in Djeeta’s eyes as she closes in is nothing short of unnerving._ _

__“Tell me, when exactly did it start? Were you two acquaintances before joining us? Oh… but Shiva never mentioned anything like that.” - She interrupts herself with a fake gasp. - “Don’t tell me it only took you three days to grow that massive crush on Shiva!?”_ _

__“I… what!?” - Grimnir’s blood rushes to his cheeks._ _

__“It’s so obvious, how could I not have noticed! You’ve been eyeing him like a hawk ever since you set foot on the deck! Maintaining this awkward distance, not even perceiving him as a candidate for friendship…”_ _

__“Wait, no! That’s not what it is!”_ _

__“Then what _is_ it, if not signs of a budding love!? Why else would you be acting like that!? Are you scared of him!? That he’d kick your ass!?”_ _

__“N-no! I’m not!” - Grimnir’s retort sounds close to a whimper._ _

__“Which one is it, wind boy!?” - Djeeta maintains her relentless assault, his panic only fueling her sadistic streak. - “Are you in love with him!?”_ _

__“I’m not! I’m not!!”_ _

__“You’re really scared of him, then!?”_ _

__“Yes! Wait, no!”_ _

__“Are you or are you not!?”_ _

__“I’M NOT AFRAID OF SHIVA, OKAY!?”_ _

__The air freezes in its tracks sweeping across the cafeteria. The few gulps worth left of cider have finally evacuated Grimnir’s mug in a limp stream down his thighs. Even with half his vision obscured by the empty vessel, Grimnir can feel every single pair of eyes in their vicinity boring into him. Briefly, he considers leaping out of the nearest window._ _

__The staccato of heels puncture the thickening silence. As if that were the cue to return to normalcy, other noises gingerly begin to fill the room once more. To Grimnir’s buzzing ears, the heels’ knocking on hardwood somehow rises above all other sounds, gaining more clarity as their owner approaches. Without even looking up he can tell who it is, and the knowledge makes him a little ill._ _

__“Hi, Shiva! How’s it going?” - Djeeta turns to Shiva with a toothy grin, removing the foot she had perched on Grimnir’s chair during her interrogation of him mere seconds ago. - “We were just talking about you.”_ _

__“I could tell.” - The fire primal replies with a low chortle. He turns to Grimnir, woefully oblivious to the intense discomfort his attention is inflicting on his newest crewmate. - “It pleases me to find you already sharing such an intimate bond with my adherent. Though I don’t believe we have been formally introduced.”_ _

__“I WILL FIGHT YOU.”_ _

__If his second time yelling so suddenly has not restored the uncomfortable silence Shiva just warded off, Grimnir’s slamming his empty mug down certainly has. Intercepted by its master’s voiceless command, Shiva’s ivory serpent stops short of lunging towards him for the threat._ _

__“Pardon?” - Shiva asks, intrigued by the rapidly reddening wind primal._ _

__“I… I mean…” - Grimnir gulps._ _

__Any attempt to salvage what remains of his dignity now will only dig his own grave deeper and yet, his foolish pride refuses to be contained. Snatching Djeeta’s mug, Grimnir downs every last drop of liquid bravado it accommodates in one gulp. Regardless of whether the effect is real or imagined, he is pumped with enough courage to look Shiva straight in his dastardly handsome face._ _

__“Hmph! I’ve heard of you, the fire primarch’s disciple, so-called Arbiter of Salvation! I would much rather call you for what you are, inferno-bound menace! You have wreaked immeasurable havoc upon our kind long enough, for I, the Dancing Cyclone-”_ _

__“I have?”_ _

__“Y-yeah! You totally have!” - Grimnir points an accusatory finger at Shiva. - “You big bully! I mean… Ahem! Let us settle this score. I challenge you to honourable combat, o’ fiend! As dawn breaks across the horizon in ten hours’ time, we shall see which of our strengths prevails!”_ _

__Two arms crossed over his torso, Shiva’s remaining hands begin to pet Nagaraja out of habit, his brows furrowed slightly in thought._ _

__“I do not condone senseless violence.” - The fire primal says sternly._ _

__“Are you cowering!?” - Grimnir snaps back._ _

__Djeeta brings a hand to her mouth with a scandalised ‘ooooh’._ _

__“He’s calling you chicken, Shiva.”_ _

__Shiva raises an eyebrow._ _

__“But I am not a chicken.”_ _

__Djeeta bursts into wheezing laughter, almost toppling to the floor as she does._ _

__“You’re. Not. Helping!” - Grimnir grits the syllables through his teeth._ _

__“Aahh… Sorry, sorry.” - Wiping a tear from her eye, Djeeta resumes speaking. - “Well, Shiva. I don’t think it’ll be something as dramatic as ‘senseless violence’. Think of it as sports!”_ _

__Shiva’s features promptly soften._ _

__“I see. So a friendly duel is all it is?”_ _

__“Wait, no!” - Grimnir interjects, alarmed that what Shiva and Djeeta have in mind clearly differs from his idea of a score-settling fight. - “That’s n- mmph!”_ _

__“Yep! A friendly duel.” - Djeeta nods enthusiastically amid blocking Grimnir’s mouth with her hands. - “That settles it, then! We’ll dock on the nearest deserted island tomorrow. I can’t have two primal beasts tear up our deck in a rush. Noa would have my head.”_ _

__\---_ _

__He really should have thought this through. This is all Djeeta’s fault. _She_ didn’t give him the time to think anything through. For one, he could really use an extra day, or week, or month… to strategise against an opponent who has overwhelming elemental advantage. _ _

__A better idea yet is to not set himself up to get laser-beamed at all. That inner eye thing hurt like hell, as Grimnir vividly recalls. And yet, here he is, on the brink of wilfully subjecting himself to that pain like a fool. Maybe he can at least convince Shiva to lose the snake as a handicap, it is only fair…_ _

___No, this is no time for cowardice._ _ _

__Grimnir shakes his head forcefully as if to wring the thought out of his mind._ _

__“What’s the matter, God of War?” - Shiva calls out to him from the other end of the meadow. - “Are you not ready to begin?”_ _

__“I’M FINE!” - Grimnir yells back, probably much louder than necessary. - “H-HECK YEAH I’M READY!”_ _

__Drats. All that time spent working on his epic opening speech is wasted, now that he’s too nervous for any coherence. That time really could have been used to strategise or practice instead…_ _

__Grimnir gives his own cheek a hard slap._ _

__“God of war?”_ _

__“It’s nothing!!” - The wind primal snaps, mildly annoyed. - “Geez! Can you get off my case for once!?”_ _

__“...Alright?”_ _

__He’s not exactly sure what constitutes ‘getting off someone’s case’. All Shiva knows is that he already feels plenty entertained by this curious creature. Grimnir is nothing like what he expected of the wind primarch’s disciple. From Raphael’s demeanour, it would be natural for someone under his mentorship to be a little… a lot… more self-composed. Grimnir seems to be in a constant state of stumbling all over himself every single time Shiva pays him notice. He’s anything _but_ dignified, yet devastatingly endearing in a way. _ _

__Shiva can’t even imagine this clumsy boy gaining any sort of advantage over him. Coupled with his amusement, he fails to perceive this as much of a fight._ _

__After a few seconds of fumbling with his own weapon, Grimnir manages to collect himself and take into the air with some semblance of dignity._ _

__“A… Are you ready to weather these gales, o’ sworn nemesis!?” - He cries, pointing his glowing spear down at Shiva._ _

__“Indeed.” - Shiva chuckles, brandishing his own trident. - “As the red dragon would say: ‘Come at me, bro.’”_ _

__With an insulting amount of ease, Shiva banishes the opening handful of vortexes Grimnir launches at him. Just as he thought, this won’t be much of a fight at all._ _

__“Tch!” - Grimnir clicks his tongue in frustration. He knows for a fact Shiva can also fly. The smug bastard hasn’t even bothered to leave the ground yet. - “Eat these, then!”_ _

__The larger vortexes manage to get Shiva to take into the air. But even with more ease, he simply swerves out of the gales’ paths this time instead of intercepting them. Grimnir’s tornadoes disappear into the endless blue high._ _

__“It is my turn, I believe.” - Shiva smirks._ _

__“W- Eek!”_ _

__Grimnir narrowly dodges the fangs of a serpentine blaze hurled his way, then another. One barely cinches his cape, yet another aims at the exposed flesh of his shoulder. Occupied with evading attacks and maintaining his balance in the air simultaneously, Grimnir is nearly caught off guard._ _

__“Trishula!”_ _

__“Eternal storm!”_ _

__The wind primal’s shield is raised in reflex. Though thankful for his immediate protection from the ensuing fiery barrage, Grimnir curses his impulse. He won’t be able to summon the shield again for a while. If Shiva decides to laser-beam him before he can, he will be literal toast._ _

__Already his shield is deteriorating at an alarming speed - Shiva’s elemental advantage at work. Once it completely disintegrates, the blows Grimnir can valiantly exchange before he is logically, utterly overwhelmed are numbered. A few patches of cinched cape and grazed skin later, Shiva has had him plucked out of the air and pinned down like a bug in a frame._ _

__Grimnir thinks he would pass out from the sheer heat the embattled Shiva exudes, were the fire primal hovering any closer to his face._ _

__“You fought well, God of War. But I’m afraid victory is mine.” - Shiva huffs triumphantly._ _

__Grimnir coughs as the hot air creeps down his lungs._ _

__“Th… that’s where… you’re wrong.”_ _

__“Excuse me?”_ _

__“GOD OF WAR RETURNS!”_ _

__The harpoons of air - once the vortexes that Shiva foolishly left to whirr out of sight - has returned with a vengeance, striking him in the back with brutal force. Grimnir immediately regrets his own ingenious strategy when Shiva’s entire weight drops on top of him. Barely hanging on to consciousness, Grimnir rolls out of captivity. In a split second, it has become Shiva’s turn to be pinned down._ _

__“Hark! As your mirth… beckons your own undoing!” - Grimnir barks with his last ounce of strength._ _

__Shiva lays paralysed, too astonished for words._ _

__“Oh… my gosh. I did it…” - Slowly, Grimnir touches his face as if to ascertain that he is alive. - “I really did it…”_ _

__At the same time as the improbable reality of his own victory sinks in for Grimnir, Shiva is filled with a different, just as invigorating sort of emotion - _awe_._ _

__“Haha… Haha! I beat Shiva! Wait until the Singularity hears about this!” - Having all but abandoned the task of securing his opponent, Grimnir is practically skipping across the meadow and back. - “Never again underestimate the might of I, the Dancing Cyclone, Griiiiiiiiiimnir!! Or you shall taste retribution once more!”_ _

__“Oh, I would never dare.” - Pulling himself upright, Shiva laughs heartily. - “You are indeed, mighty as they say.”_ _

__“Heh! As expected of my sworn nemesis, I knew you wouldn’t acknowledge me so easi- wait, what…?”_ _

__“I acknowledge your strength, God of War. To claim victory against such odds, your prowess and determination are quite formidable.”_ _

__Grimnir’s jaw drops gracelessly open. This isn’t how it is supposed to play out! Not according to the script in his head._ _

__“Well… gee… Thanks!” - Grimnir awkwardly scratches his cheek. - “Y-you were pretty great, too. I was a little scared, honestly… But yeah! It was kind of a one-time trick so I doubt it’d work again if we-”_ _

__“Don’t discredit yourself so.” - Shiva shakes his head, putting a hand on Grimnir’s to ruffle his hair. Admittedly, he’s beginning to enjoy the wind primal’s knack for turning various shades of red in such short periods of time. - “The wind primarch himself has good judgment. What I experienced today is mere confirmation of the capability he sees in you.”_ _

__“Of… of course!”_ _

__Just when did Shiva get so close? And exactly when did Grimnir sit down next to him? It’s getting hard to breathe, yet some insidious charm has him locked firmly in place._ _

__“It has been a long time since I was last bested by another primal beast in battle. In fact, I have you to thank for reminding me of my own complacency. You must have noticed my failing in character, hence your keen and sustained observation of my movements for the past few days-”_ _

__“Y-y-y-you could tell!!?” - Grimnir feels about ready to explode from shame._ _

__“Why, yes. My third eye keeps me constantly informed of all that happens in my surroundings. Though in retrospect, you weren’t very subtle going about the deed…” - As if suddenly remembering that he is supposed to be praising Grimnir, the fire primal pauses. - “...So what I’m saying is you’re extremely _cool_.” _ _

__Shiva finally finishes his generous stream of praise to the effect of Grimnir practically baking where he sits. At some point, the latter has curled up into a ball with his face hidden behind his knees._ _

__“God of war? Did I say something to offend you?” - Shiva asks with genuine concern._ _

__“Noooooo…” - Grimnir manages to whimper. Somehow, he feels like the one to have lost at the end of the day._ _

__“My apologies. If you feel unwell, let us return to the ship post-haste. I shall carry you back, as I am the one responsible for reducing you to this state.”_ _

__“Wait… No you don’t have to!!”_ _

__Too late, Shiva has already lifted Grimnir - carefully maintained in his ball-shape position - and taken to the air._ _

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank @sashacall on twitter for conceiving half of this idea. We're really just enabling each other's thirst in this house.


End file.
